The council met for the first time in its new $750,000 council chamber and regional civil defence headquarters, in the car park of its Stafford St headquarters yesterday.
Councillors had been meeting at the Salvation Army's Haven Hall for the past about six months so staff could move into the Stafford St council chamber.
It was the last of many moves to deal with overcrowding in the Stafford St building.
Chairman Stephen Woodhead told councillors the new building was a ''fantastic'' space and was ''new and fresh''.
New furniture had also been bought, as it would enable the space to be ''multifunctional'' as a civil defence headquarters and meeting facility, he said.
Members of Otago's runanga attended a blessing of the building before the meeting.
Cr Deaker said while the facility was ''splendid'', councillors should not lapse into feeling it was a job done.
He asked chief executive Peter Bodeker to bring a report to the council outlining the state of council staff's accommodation problems.
''Are there any hot spots still? What is the level of staff satisfaction with the changes?''
A chance for councillors to look around the facility would also be appreciated, he said.
Mr Woodhead said ''at some point'', once staff had been able to settle in and use the new facility and work was complete on the Stafford St building, a workshop on the matter could be held.
